Is director training the answer to football’s governance woes? July 31, 2025 A new study suggests reforming football governance by testing and training directors. But is the regulator capable, asks Ed Warner? Countless millions follow professional football in England, claiming allegiance to a favourite club whose fortunes are entwined daily with each individual’s emotions, their highs and lows in seemingly unavoidable synchronicity. Turns out these essential forces [...]
Football clubs suffering from too few directors, report warns July 30, 2025 All professional football clubs in England should be mandated to have at least three directors to prevent governance failings that threaten their existence, a new report warns today. The report, by LCP’s Sports Analytics and Advisory practice and governance specialists LawDeb, highlights worryingly small boards at many clubs in the top five divisions. Fourteen clubs [...]
Beer we go: Football alcohol ban could be reviewed as MPs prepare to vote July 8, 2025 MPs could be asked to vote today on proposals to review the ban on football supporters consuming alcohol in the stands at matches. Fans have been prohibited from drinking in view of the pitch in the top five tiers of English professional football for the last 40 years. But that legislation could be reviewed as [...]
Premier League operating profit hits five-year high as PSR bites June 12, 2025 Premier League clubs recorded their highest collective operating profit since 2019 last year as controversial PSR regulations enforced a greater emphasis on balancing the books. Aggregate operating profits among the 20 teams in the top division increased by 36 per cent to £533m in 2023-24, according to Deloitte’s latest Annual Review of Football Finance published [...]
Red Bull eyes franchise in R360 rugby breakaway league June 4, 2025 Red Bull is one of the sports investors to have expressed an interest in buying a franchise in R360, the revolutionary new global rugby union competition that it is claimed will launch next year. A proposed grand prix-style travelling league featuring eight men’s franchises and a four-team women’s competition has been put together by a [...]
Football Regulator: Industry experts call out governance of sport May 27, 2025 Over 400 points have been docked from clubs in the English Football League since the Premier League launched in 1992, insight shared with City AM reveals. It points to an English top flight that has pulled away from the rest of the promotion-relegation pyramid ahead of the introduction of an Independent Football Regulator. Insight provided [...]
Independent Football Regulator costs could hike ticket prices, MP says April 28, 2025 Shadow sport minister Stuart Andrew has insisted the Independent Football Regulator’s reported £47.3m club compliance cost could push ticket prices up for fans. It came as the Conservatives, who introduced the original Football Governance Bill before the 2024 General Election, opposed the proposed legislation at the second reading stage on Monday in the House of [...]
Who is David Kogan, the future football regulator facing the ‘piranha club’? April 27, 2025 David Kogan once claimed to have helped introduce bingo to Daily Star readers but his forthcoming job as chair of the independent football regulator represents an altogether different kind of gamble – and some much bigger numbers. Subject to a pre-appointment grilling by the Culture, Media and Sport select committee early next month, the seasoned [...]
David Kogan: Media grandee set to chair football regulator April 25, 2025 Media heavyweight David Kogan OBE, a former advisor to the Premier League with links to the Labour party, has been named the government’s preferred candidate to chair the independent football regulator. Kogan, 67, has seen off competition from serial football club executive Christian Purslow, equality campaigner Sanjay Bhandari and former parliamentary expenses watchdog Professor Sir [...]
How League One Lincoln City are helping to shape the football regulator April 14, 2025 Consultation has been one of the hot topics surrounding the introduction of the independent football regulator, although one club at least is trying to ensure that it is not a one-way street. While much of the discussion has been on what the watchdog will demand of clubs in return for being granted a licence, Lincoln [...]